The 1986 film
- Adored by the Network: The film aired constantly on cable television in The '90s.
- Bilingual Bonus: The film contains several instances of untranslated Japanese.
- California Doubling: Many scenes are shot in, of all places, Argentina, home to a Fiat factory that was half-abandoned but still full of partly completed cars and they were allowed to film in.
- Completely Different Title: For its Australian release, the title was changed to "Working Class Man", the title of the song used in the film, performed by Jimmy Barnes.
- Defictionalization: The documentary American Factory covers a very similar story about an Asian company opening a factory in a closed-down auto plant in the Rust Belt. Similar problems arise between the American workers and Asian managers. Given that it takes place in the 2010s, it's no surprise that it's a Chinese company rather than a Japanese one.
- Life Imitates Art: The plot is virtually recreated without the happy ending in the real-life events documented in American Factory.
- Production Posse: Ron Howard, Michael Keaton and writers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel collaborated about four years earlier on Night Shift.
- What Could Have Been: Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy turned down the lead role.
